New York Times bestselling author. Slow cooking expert.

One of my favorite meals to order in a restaurant is a French Dip sandwich. This easy recipe recreates the moist tender roast beef you get in a French Dip sandwich at home, in your very own crockpot slow cooker.If you are gluten free, you are in luck -- this recipe is completely free from gluten and is a great way to have this restaurant classic safely in your own home!

Or, you can make French Dip Sandwiches. These sandwiches are completely and totally American, because they call for The Two American Ingredients: beer and red meat.

But this isn't just any ordinary beer---it's gluten free! I finally tracked down some Redbridge beer at a local Beverages and More. Redbridge's website has a zipcode tracker, but none of the locations were close enough. A quick email later, and Lindsay from Anheuser-Busch confirmed that both our Beverages and More and Whole Foods carry the line. Awesome.The Ingredients.serves 6

Put the butter into the bottom of the crockpot and turn on. Add the meat, garlic, and onions, and swirl around in the butter.

Pour in the broth, beer, and cooking sherry. Add pepper and Worcestershire sauce.

Cover and cook on low for 7-9 hours.

If your meat is still in large chunks, remove it carefully, and slice. Return the meat back to the broth.Serve on rolls. Since we are gluten free, I used a gluten free hoagie roll, sliced, but if you aren't gluten free I'd choose a sourdough french roll.

Dip the sandwich into the broth before each bite for a nice juicy flavor and consistency.

The Verdict.

These were so much fun and tasted marvelous! And Very American.

Thanks to my reader, Jenny, for this idea! Jenny also has a good tip about slow-cooking in hot climates. We're lucky here in that it never gets terribly hot, but we used to live where summertime temperatures were well over 100 degrees daily.

Jenny shares her tips: "I set the crockpot on an outdoor table and cook outside, I have an outlet right by my sliding glass door, so I cook on our patio, and I can keep an eye on it, then my kitchen doesn't heat up... You can also set it on a workbench in the garage. Just some useful things I personally do for the summer crock potting!"

What a great thing! Long live the crockpot!!

You look like the kind of person who likes to make Take Out at home. Here you go! :-)

22 comments:

Although I'm sure that your homemade French Onion soup is way better than a store-bought variety, I wanted to let you know that Pacific Food's French Onion Soup is GF. I've never had it myself, though.

Your blog is awesome! Anyway, I wanted to add this tip. Just before serving the French Dip, cut your rolls in half and spread some melted butter and garlic on the insides. Then toast them for a little bit in your oven.

I made this today (the original recipe) and it was great. I cut the recipe in half, sliced the beef first, and it was done in 5 hours on low (maybe 4 hours, but I forgot to check on it). Love this blog!

Hi! I love that you combine two of my favorite things, crockpot cooking and GF recipes! How awesome! My question is how do you get that shape for the bread in the french dip recipe? I read your post about the bread in a loaf pan, but what about that cool sandwich shape? Thanks so much!

Hi Robin, I spread parchment paper on a cookie sheet and formed the mini-loaves with my hands. It's REALLY sticky, but doable. I grab a handful at a time, plop it on the sheet, then form with my hands.

we have made bread sticks, buns for hamburgers and hotdogs, and baguettes this way, too!

I am so excited about this site! It is so nice to see recipes using gf products, especially after my husband was diagnosed this past year, I could have sworn easy was a thing of the past. This site will save so much time. Thanks